BBC widens Proms coverage

This year's BBC Proms will be broadcast on more TV and radio channels than ever before.

Building on the long-standing tradition of Proms coverage on radio, with every concert being broadcast live on Radio 3, there will be additional Proms featured on other stations, including Radio 1, Radio 2, 6 Music and Asian Network.

On television, the BBC will broadcast 26 Proms across BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Three and BBC Four.

Highlights on TV will include the return of the Doctor Who Prom for the 50th anniversary of the series on BBC One (13 July). And, in line with tradition, the second half of the Last Night will be broadcast on BBC One (7 September), after the first half on BBC Two. In 2013, for the first time the Last Night will be led by a female conductor, Marin Alsop, who is appearing with the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

The season begins on BBC Two (12 July), as soprano Sally Matthews, baritone Roderick Williams, and pianist Stephen Hough, appear alongside the BBC Symphony Orchestra for the First Night. BBC Two will also screen a six-part series presented by Katie Derham, looking at a pick of the Proms each week.

BBC Four will be recording a selection of Proms for broadcast, for three strands of coverage. The programmes include: Thursday nights with Katie Derham, looking at ‘Orchestras of the World’; Friday nights with guest presenters; and Sunday nights, when Radio 3’s Tom Service will look at 20th-century and new works.

The BBC Four highlights will include: a Verdi Prom with conductor Antonio Pappano; Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde with conductor Semyon Bychkov; Bach’s Easter Oratorio with John Eliot Gardiner; and the John Wilson Orchestra’s annual toast to the golden era of Hollywood. The TV station will also benefit from a selection of Cadogan Hall Proms Chamber Music Concerts, hosted by Radio 3’s Petroc Trelawny.

BBC Three and Radio 1 are getting a look-in on the first ‘Urban Classic’ Prom (10 August), where artists such as singer Laura Mvula are joined by the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Elsewhere, radio station 6 Music will feature a Prom bringing together punk band The Stranglers with the London Sinfonietta (12 August). And Asian Network will cover the premiere of Nishat Khan’s The Gate of the Moon of (12 August).

For full coverage of the BBC Proms visit the website and there will be full listings of the festival in the July issue of BBC Music Magazine, on sale 12 June.